At the beginning of May we flew to Dublin and rented a car and drove up to Belfast to attend Kieran, my second cousin's, marriage to Nicola Haines.
Okay, this wasn't just an ordinary wedding. It was the wedding of the century. Black Tie affair no less. We have never ever seen such an amazing 'production' I say production because that is what Uncle Leo put on. Uncle Leo is Nicola's uncle who owns a pub in Belfast and a Wedding Planning company.
(A bit of background.....Nicola's late father was the Cruise Director of the QEII, so he (and his family) obviously knew a thing or two about entertaining.)
Here is a re-cap of the weekend wedding.....
We flew into Dublin, rented a car.....
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| stopped at a wonderful Irish pub for lunch.... |
and the proceeded to drive up to Belfast.
We had booked three nights at the recommended 'wedding' hotel. The
wedding was a three day event. Yes, three days and the wedding itself
was a black tie affair. We were not really sure what to expect.
Friday Night
The
first evening was a reception at a local Irish pub / Uncle Leo's pub,
the Aether and Echo - 8:00 pm. We thought that it
would just be an evening of a few drinks and a welcome to Belfast.
Noooo, it was an evening of drinks, laughter, live music and a full sit down
dinner for everyone - the wedding party and all the guests. It was a great evening to catch up with all of my cousins and
their kids. Tim and decided that if this was a three day event that we
had better make it an early night - we left at 11:00 pm. It was a great evening.
Saturday
We spent the morning wondering around Belfast...
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| The SS Nomadic and the Titanic Museum. |
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| St. George's Market |
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| I think the Irish drink a lot of beer ?!#$% |
After our stroll around Belfast, we got dressed for the wedding and were to meet in the lobby of the hotel at 2 pm.
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Annie and John
Mum and Step Dad of the Groom |
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| On the way to the wedding ceremony in our Black Tie outfits!! |
We (about 150 people) were escorted to two double decker buses and were given a guided tour of Belfast on our way to the wedding.
Oh, did I tell you that the wedding and reception was held at the new
the Titanic Museum
It was a lovely wedding ceremony
which was held on the 5th floor of the titanic museum.
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| Kieran on his way...... |
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Charlie and Michelle Sanders
(groom's Uncle and his wife) |
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Kieran's family
from left to right
Kai and Roman - Kieran's younger brothers
Annie - Kieran's Mum
Jamie - Kieran's older brother and Best Man
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After the ceremony
the wedding party and family headed over to the botanical gardens and
all the guests went up to the 6th floor for appies and drinks.
About
an hour and a half later the curtains opened and we all walked into the
dinner room - a replica of the Titanic - beautiful staircase and all.
The
evening started out with Irish dancers and a live Irish band -amazing.
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| The amazing staircase, Uncle Leo at the podium and the Irish Band! |
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The evenings Menu!!
OMG - it was some of THE best food that we have eaten in a very very long time. |
After the first course, which was one of the best meals we had had in
along time, we were entertained with three opera singers from the
Belfast opera.
After dessert came the Supreme Dreamgirls! These three
women sang back up for Diana Ross.
Then, of course, came the speeches, which were great and not boring.
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| Kieran and Nicola Sanders |
We were then asked to go outside for a fireworks display - just for Kieran and Nicola and the wedding party. We came back in for more Irish music and dancing. We are not sure what time the party ended, but we left at 12:30 am.
Sunday Afternoon - Craic agus Ceol (basic translation - good times and music)
We all gathered in the lobby again and then boarded another
bus which took us out to
The Dufferin Coaching Inn, in a little village called Killyleagh in County Downpatrick,which is owned by Nicola's Mum. Here we
ate, drank, danced and sang (to a three man band from Argentina) for
six hours.
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| Roman, Michelle, Charlie and Jayne |
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| The amazing three man Argentinian Band!! |
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| Tim, Roman and Michelle. |
.JPG) |
| Charlie and Nicola - the latest Mrs. Sanders |
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The Gang
Roman, Tom, Jamie, Jennie, Jack, Malcolm, Tim and Michelle |
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In Killyleagh, just up the street from the Dufferin Coaching Inn is the Killyleagh Castle.
It is believed to be the oldest inhabited castle in the country, with parts dating back to 1180. |
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The gate lodges, provide for self-catering accommodation.
The bride and the groom stayed here after the
Craic agus Ceol. |
Upon returning to the hotel, Tim and
I heard loud noises and looked out the window of our hotel room and we saw
guys throwing pipe bombs at the police wagons. (Back story - we were in
Belfast at the same time that Gerry Adams,
president of the Sinn Féin political party, was being held
and questioned for the murder of a woman over 40 years prior).
After, nervously,
watching this unfold, we made a joke of it and
thought " that Uncle Leo really did want want us to have a real Belfast
experience."
Monday Morning
All wedding events finished. We left Belfast
just prior to many streets being closed for the Belfast marathon. Our
destination was Kinsale, a lovely little village on the south coast of
Ireland. On the way we made a detour to Nenagh, County Tipperary to see
if we could find my Dad's grandfather's homestead. After about an hour we finally found 'Bessborough House.' No one was home but we took a couple of pictures and then were on our way.
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Bessborough House, Nenagh, County Tipperary
A Young Family Homestead in the late 1800's - early 1900's |
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| Bessborough House |
Kinsale
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| Sunset from our townhouse |
The next couple of days were spent relaxing, walking around the town and driving around the beautiful Irish countryside.
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Just down the street from our townhouse was The Bulman,
a pub steeped in tradition.
The owner of the townhouse gave us a gift certificate for two pints at the Bulman
and yes, we used them, along with an amazing meal. |
On our way back up to Dublin, we drove along the coast and had a quick stop in Waterford, home of Waterford Crystal. A lovely town.
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| Jayne does Waterford!!! |
We spent our last night in Ireland, in the town of Wicklow, which is on the Irish Sea, just south of Dublin.
The next day, on our way to the airport, we ventured inland about 10 km to the Glendalough Valley in the Wicklow Mountains National Park to visit the 'Monastic City'.
This is the title given to the remains of the
famous early Christian monastic settlement first established by St.
Kevin in the 6th century in the Glendalough Valley. The monks abandoned the settlement centuries ago due to religious and
political upheavals but many of their hand-built stone buildings
still stand testament to their way of life.
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The Gateway
This building stands at the entrance to the Monastic City,
and is
perhaps one of the most important monuments as it is now unique in
Ireland.
The building was originally two-storied, probably with a
timber roof. |
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The Round Tower
Is about 30 metres high and the entrance is about 3.5
meters from the base.
Originally there were six wooden floors with
ladders.
Round towers served as landmarks for visitors, bell-towers, store-houses,
and as
places of refuge in times of attack. |
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The Cathedral
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Well, that concludes our visit to Belfast and our brief visit to southern Ireland.
Stay tuned.......
